Wednesday, December 13, 2006

2 comments:

Oh, he will love these pictures when he gets bigger. Well, I love every picture and getting to see every thing he does every day. I guess I could say it's the next best thing to being there, but I'm hoping it won't be too long before I can come see him very often.

Now this is a typical look that Matthew is famous for. That lower lip of his juts forward when he is up to something... perhaps splashing the camera??? Ha Ha You hardly even notice his Mickey Button. It is just a part of Matthew. I still wish my kids had one. Giving Matthew his meds is wonderful. I use to wear half of my kids vitamins.

You would never know to look at this "hunk" there was ever a thing wrong with his precious heart. Stay tuned for the results of all the tests he went through this past week. Please pray to God that he won't be needing a third heart surgery any time soon.

I am happy to see others starting to add comments to Matthew's blog. He loves to hear from his "Prayer Warriors". hint, hint.

One boy's long road to recovery. Matthew was born two months premature with a rare fourfold heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia and MAPCA's, and Ventricular Septal Defect. He's had two open heart surgeries and will need additional heart surgeries in the future.
To appreciate the absolute miracle of this "2 million dollar boy", you'd need to look into the "Archives" beginning after his first 9 hr open heart surgery at Stanford, August 2005.

First picture

2 weeks before he was born ~ we did not know of his defect until he was 4 days old

Day of birth ~ May 10th, 2005

4lbs 1oz ~ born at 32 weeks

Day of first surgery ~ July "05

"Unifocalization" ~ 9 hours by Dr. Frank Hanley

After first surgery

Chest was open for 4 days ~ hence the gauze on top

Chest was just closed

Still on a ventilator (remained on vent for another few weeks)

BiPap mask

Mask would assist him to breathe in and out

Getting ready for second surgery

Waiting for the surgery team to take him off

After second surgery

And still he smiles...

Leaving Stanford after second surgery

Happy day ~ Look no oxygen!

Happy Days

So much to be thankful for!

To view more pictures of Matthew while at Stanford, you can expand the year of 2005 by first clicking on the arrow, then the month. He was at Stanford from July thru September of 2005. Matthew was transferred back to Sunrise hospital where he stayed until the end of October 2005.His second open heart surgery at Stanford was March 16th of 2006.

We've been told he'll need a conduit change, on average, every three years. We are hoping technology will be on our side.He's our amazing little soldier boy. Our miracle.